Digital skills as underlying competence of workforce in Serbia

Objectives:After almost twenty years of 21st century Serbia faces a high rate of unemployment, which is influenced by many factors and one of them is the general level of education of the population. For that reason the main objective of this research paper is to determine the level of ICT literacy of the working age population in Serbia and to measure the correlation of the level of ICT literacy and employability. We consider this subject very important having in mind that the digital skills become one of the basic element for the national growth and competitiveness. Methodology:In order to obtain comparability of results with other European countries we decided to apply methodology for calculation of Digital skills indicator created by Eurostat in cooperation with European Commission (DG CNECT) based on the Digital Competences Framework - Individuals' level of digital skills (code: isoc_sk_dskl_i). This is a composite indicator for evaluation of knowledge of individuals aged 16-74 in several areas (information, communication, problem solving, and software skills) which can be used as a proxy of their digital competences and skills. For the purpose of this pilot research we collected 103 surveys in Serbia mainly relying on the questions from Eurostat methodology, but we also include additional questions regarding to the status of employment and the employment form in order to examine correlation between the level of digital competences and employability. We used Pearson correlation coefficient for this purpose. Results:Results presented in this research need to be considered with reserve, due to non-representational sample, but it does not deviate significantly from Eurostat indicator. According to results, in the area of Information skills 12% of sample has no skills, 7% has basic and 78% has above basic skills, in the area of Communication skills also 12% has no skills, 16% has basic while 70% has above basic skills. The situation in the area of Problem solving is a bit different – 29% has no skills, 16% has basic skills and 54% has above average skills. Finally, in the area of Software skills 34% has no skills, 24% has basic skills and 40% has above basic skills. Overall indicator of digital skills showed that 13% of sample has no skills or their skills cannot be assessed, 50% has low and basic skills, while 37% has above basic skills. Pearson test founds correlation between the level of digital skills and level of education and the type of business activity. Implications:Results of the research presented in this paper could provide impact on national policies in Serbia. The main legal document National Strategy of Information Society Development should be supported by appropriate regulations and policies that would target identified problems in the area of digital literacy. This paper can be used in the process evidence based policy as underlying document. Originality Value: Scientists in Serbia have begun to deal more with the phenomena of digital literacy in the last decade, but the researches are rare and non-systematic. One of the most valuable empirical study of Serbian society is Digital literacy of employers and students in Serbia provided by Lakić, et. al (2012) which covered 733 employers and 344 students. This research is step further because it is based pm Eurostat methodology and its results are comparable with other EU countries